Best Trees to Plant in Plano

What makes a tree a good fit here

Plano and the rest of North Texas are hard on trees. Summers are long and hot, rainfall comes in bursts, and much of the soil is alkaline clay that can turn to concrete in August and mud in spring. Trees that come from this region, or similar conditions, tend to handle it better than species bred for cooler, wetter places.

It’s also worth thinking past the first few years. A tree that grows very fast often has weaker wood and a shorter life. A slower, sturdier tree may take longer to give real shade, but it’s more likely to still be standing, and still healthy, after decades of storms and summers.

The list below sticks to species commonly recommended by Texas A&M Forest Service and AgriLife for North Texas. Every site is different, though. Sun, drainage, space and what’s already growing nearby all matter, so treat this as a starting point.

Large shade trees

These need room. Plan for a wide canopy and roots that spread well beyond it.

• Shumard red oak. A large native oak with good red fall color in many years. It’s a red oak, so oak wilt is a consideration, and it’s best not to plant it right beside existing red oaks.
• Bur oak. A big, tough native with large leaves and large acorns. It’s a white oak, which tends to be more resistant to oak wilt.
• Chinquapin oak. A white oak that handles alkaline soil well and grows into a handsome medium to large shade tree.
• Live oak. Long-lived, wide and semi-evergreen. It needs plenty of space and the same oak wilt care as other oaks in Texas.
• Cedar elm. A tough native elm with small leaves, good drought tolerance and no oak wilt concerns.
• Lacebark elm. Not native, but well adapted to North Texas, with attractive mottled bark.

Medium and small trees

For smaller yards, under power lines or near the house, a smaller tree is usually the better choice.

• Texas red oak. A smaller red oak that grows well on alkaline soils, with fall color. As a red oak, it’s vulnerable to oak wilt.
• Mexican plum. A small native tree with white flowers in early spring and nice bark.
• Eve’s necklace. A small native tree with pink spring flowers and bead-like seed pods.
• Desert willow. A small, airy tree with orchid-like summer flowers. It wants full sun and good drainage.
• Possumhaw. A native deciduous holly. Female plants carry red berries through winter that birds love.

One tree we’d skip is the Bradford pear. It’s fast and pretty in spring, but it’s prone to splitting as it ages, and callery pears have become invasive in parts of Texas.

Right tree, right place

Most planting regrets come from putting a tree in the wrong spot, not choosing the wrong species. Before you dig, think about how big the tree will be at maturity, not how it looks in the pot.

• Keep large shade trees well away from the house, foundation and driveway.
• Don’t plant large trees under overhead power lines. Choose a small species there.
• Think about where the shade will fall in summer, especially on west-facing walls.
• Leave room between trees so canopies don’t crowd each other.
• Mix species. A street of only one kind of tree is exposed to whatever pest or disease comes for that kind.

Check with your HOA if you have one, since some have planting guidelines for front yards and parkways. Before you dig, call 811 to have underground utilities marked.

Planting it right

Fall and winter are good times to plant in North Texas. The air is cooler, but the soil is still warm enough for roots to grow, and the tree has a few months to settle in before summer heat.

Dig the hole two or three times as wide as the root ball but no deeper. Set the tree so the root flare, where the trunk widens at the base, sits at or slightly above the surrounding soil. Planting too deep is one of the most common causes of young tree decline. Backfill with the native soil, water it in well and add a ring of mulch a few inches deep, pulled back from the trunk.

Then keep watering. A new tree’s roots are still small, so regular deep watering through the first couple of summers matters more than anything else you’ll do. Skip heavy pruning for the first year, apart from dead or broken branches, and let the tree get established.